East Moline Approves $160K for Watertown Residents

On Monday, July 7, 2014, the East Moline City Council approved $160,000 in Housing and Urban Development Authority money for residents affected by the flash flooding from June 30, 2014.

The money will go to people who need water heaters or furnaces, after cleaning up their basements from rainwater. East Moline Mayor John Thodos says the money will only be given to people who are low-income in the area too.

“I know the last time this happened back in 2008, the city had to end up buying furnaces for the people,” Thodos said on July 1, 2014. “FEMA didn’t provide us funding or anything like that, so those are the things that we are currently trying to evaluate to see if we can get this situation back to normal.”

City Administrator Cole O’donnell says the city will do the same thing they did back in 2008. They will buy these furnaces for people, with the money from HUD. Officials will also be waiving the increase in a person’s utility bill for this month, if a person had to use their own water, to clean their basement.

During the storm on June 30, Thodos says that floodgates were also closed. That’s because the Mississippi was at such a high level. Watertown residents can learn more about the application process Tuesday for assistance. There’s an informational meeting at Mt. Zion Church, at 1501 6th Avenue at 7 p.m.

(editor’s note: we mistakenly misspelled Mr. Thodos’ last name in an earlier version of this story. We apologize for the error.)